He Doesn’t Have The Green Jacket Yet

April 10, 2013 · No Comments

By Billy Perlmutter

With the first golf major of the year, The Masters, set to kick off tomorrow, Tiger Woods, who has just climbed back to number one in the world, is already being handed the Green Jacket. Not so fast, folks. Let’s remember, this is golf. Let’s remember, this is Augusta National, where anything can happen. Rory Mcllroy had one of the biggest collapses in the long history of The Masters two years ago, and Bubba Watson, just last year, made a shot in a Playoff against Louis Oosthuizen, from the trees, that made it look like he wasn’t hitting the ball with a golf club, but with a magic wand. This is the greatest golf tournament on Earth. And predicting the winner, even when a player as dominant as Tiger Woods is competing, would be like getting a perfect bracket in March Madness.

Of the last 17 major championships to be played, the current number one golfer at the time, has not won the event. The last person to do it? That’s right, it’s Mr. Tiger Woods himself. But anyone who remembers what the old Tiger was like knows that the present day Tiger is not the same. Not only is Tiger older, and more injury prone, but there is an intimidation factor that is missing nowadays. Before the scandal hit, he was looked at like he was invincible. Somebody who simply could not be touched. But then, after Thanksgiving Day, 2009, the impossible happened: Woods was revealed a human. No longer was he a hurricane that could not be stopped, he had to find his way back to being a shadow of what he once was. And, to his credit, he’s done just that.

Tiger Woods is clearly the best golfer in the world as of right now, Wednesday night. But when Sunday afternoon comes, who’s going to be the best? Because if the winner of The Masters happens to be a Rory Mcllroy, Phil Mickelson, or Graeme McDowell, questions of Tiger’s vulnerability will come to the surface once again.